Microsoft's big decision: Who gets a free upgrade to Win10

CountMike · 07 Jan 2015

BunnyJ said:

CountMike said:

Volunteers work for their own satisfaction to do something positive, I did a lot of that and still doing what I can and most of the time I'm rewarded, a smile of a child makes it more than enough and heck of more precious than any money. But M$ certainly does not fit in that category. This time they went way out of their way to ask for it. Indications are that MS may do that even more in the future and without offering any incentive, it's almost guaranteed that testing this way will diminish and be left only to the curiosity.

Simple, don't test anymore. MS didn't force you to test anything.

Why shouldn't I ? Did same for all other windows but after all those years I think I'm entitled to some recognition. Heck, even my grocer gives me discount for shopping there many years.

BunnyJ · 07 Jan 2015

CountMike said:

BunnyJ said:

CountMike said:

Volunteers work for their own satisfaction to do something positive, I did a lot of that and still doing what I can and most of the time I'm rewarded, a smile of a child makes it more than enough and heck of more precious than any money. But M$ certainly does not fit in that category. This time they went way out of their way to ask for it. Indications are that MS may do that even more in the future and without offering any incentive, it's almost guaranteed that testing this way will diminish and be left only to the curiosity.

Simple, don't test anymore. MS didn't force you to test anything.

Why shouldn't I ? Did same for all other windows but after all those years I think I'm entitled to some recognition. Heck, even my grocer gives me discount for shopping there many years.

.. On one had you want something for testing Win10 and other things in the future but you volunteer to do the testing and MS doesn't owe you anything, like the other 1+ million. Yes, MS asked for testers,, so?? Did MS ever indicate that there was going to be a reward for testing Win10?? I for one never saw any and I didn't expect any when I voluntarily signed up to test Win10TP. What did you expect??

Jeff

CountMike · 07 Jan 2015

BunnyJ said:

CountMike said:

BunnyJ said:

CountMike said:

Volunteers work for their own satisfaction to do something positive, I did a lot of that and still doing what I can and most of the time I'm rewarded, a smile of a child makes it more than enough and heck of more precious than any money. But M$ certainly does not fit in that category. This time they went way out of their way to ask for it. Indications are that MS may do that even more in the future and without offering any incentive, it's almost guaranteed that testing this way will diminish and be left only to the curiosity.

Simple, don't test anymore. MS didn't force you to test anything.

Why shouldn't I ? Did same for all other windows but after all those years I think I'm entitled to some recognition. Heck, even my grocer gives me discount for shopping there many years.

Then stop complaining about how you may not get a copy of Win10. Not many if any others are going to get a free copy for testing this OS and I for one am just fine with MS for not giving me a free copy. Just what kind of incentive do you want MS to provide you with in the future or now??

I'm not complaining, just stating my position on it. I'm not asking for a life time free M$ club gold membership, one token of appreciation for my and other people testing would be nice. I suppose you would insist on paying for windows even if they gave them away for free ?

groze · 07 Jan 2015

I wonder how many users are really testing windows 10 preview not counting the windows 10 forum. How many are just doing it because they can download if for free and using the software till April 15, 2015? (I think it should of came with a warning that it expires on April 15, 2015. You should have to type in the date of the windows 10 expiration before it will even install. This way, people cant come back and say, I didn't know it expires, I didn't make a backup for my system. ).

What is going on Microsoft did offer free and a discount upgrade for windows 7 to windows 8.x and people remember that. Microsoft stopped doing that.

BunnyJ · 07 Jan 2015

CountMike said:

BunnyJ said:

CountMike said:

BunnyJ said:

CountMike said:

Volunteers work for their own satisfaction to do something positive, I did a lot of that and still doing what I can and most of the time I'm rewarded, a smile of a child makes it more than enough and heck of more precious than any money. But M$ certainly does not fit in that category. This time they went way out of their way to ask for it. Indications are that MS may do that even more in the future and without offering any incentive, it's almost guaranteed that testing this way will diminish and be left only to the curiosity.

Simple, don't test anymore. MS didn't force you to test anything.

Why shouldn't I ? Did same for all other windows but after all those years I think I'm entitled to some recognition. Heck, even my grocer gives me discount for shopping there many years.

Then stop complaining about how you may not get a copy of Win10. Not many if any others are going to get a free copy for testing this OS and I for one am just fine with MS for not giving me a free copy. Just what kind of incentive do you want MS to provide you with in the future or now??

I'm not complaining, just stating my position on it. I'm not asking for a life time free M$ club gold membership, one token of appreciation for my and other people testing would be nice. I suppose you would insist on paying for windows even if they gave them away for free ?

You silly.. I would take the free copy. And again.. what would you like MS to give you as a reward for your efforts??

CountMike · 07 Jan 2015

Continued free use on computer originally installed on, would be nice. Something like OEM copy, they charge very little for it anyway, giving it free for small devices too. Would cost them zilch anyway. Think about it, great marketing trick, don't cost them anything but ensure possibility of continual testing and improving without paying professionals to do it. Monopoly has to be earned too, you have to position yourself and stay there at the top and competition is much more capable nowadays than let's say 10 years ago.

whs · 07 Jan 2015

There was a discussion of a free OS with advertisement. I don't know whether we would like that.

But then there is always Linux. I bet half of the PC users could very well live with a nice Linux distro like Mint. But the PC manufacturers do not offer that. I really wonder why. Have a look how nice it can be.

Mystere · 07 Jan 2015

CountMike said:

I'm not complaining, just stating my position on it. I'm not asking for a life time free M$ club gold membership, one token of appreciation for my and other people testing would be nice. I suppose you would insist on paying for windows even if they gave them away for free ?

Uhh.. really? Not complaining?

CountMike said:

Why shouldn't I ? Did same for all other windows but after all those years I think I'm entitled to some recognition. Heck, even my grocer gives me discount for shopping there many years.

That sure sounds like complaining to me. "Entitled" is a strong word.

Microsoft didn't used to allow just anyone to get access to these early beta versions. And Windows was a lot poorer because of it. We get a lot of benefit from this... We get a better OS in the long run. We get early access to the technology so that when it comes out, we already have strong knowledge in it. Many of us can parlay that into paying gigs. We get the opportunity to influence how the OS is being developed, so that it suits OUR needs... Granted, they may not listen, but we do have the opportunity to see what they're doing and make our opinions known.

That's a lot of benefit. Every person that runs a beta version of Windows, even if they never report a bug or give feedback is contributing telemetry data about installations, hardware configurations, automatic error reports, etc.. All this goes towards making the final OS work better for everyone, including YOU.

I mean, think about it... If Microsoft said "You're all a bunch of whiners, we're not releasing any more betas" *WE* would be the ones that would suffer because of it, not Microsoft. They get paid to do their jobs whether they product good software or bad. We benefit because we're the ones paying for the software, and the more we do to make that software better, the better it is for *US*.

Having said that... Microsoft has, in the past, given out free copies to select testers, but only to those that are in intensive beta programs, who submit regular, complete and detailed bug reports, follow up with developers and do special testing, etc... In other words, it's more or less a second job. Not just something you do now and then, and only haphazardly.

I'm sorry, but installing a beta copy and using it does not constitute intensive beta testing. You aren't doing deliberate breakage tests and writing up detailed reports of the results. You aren't a QA Engineer.

MS isn't going to give a free final copy of windows to everyone that downloads the beat. They've never done that.

groze · 07 Jan 2015

whs said:

There was a discussion of a free OS with advertisement. I don't know whether we would like that.

But then there is always Linux. I bet half of the PC users could very well live with a nice Linux distro like Mint. But the PC manufacturers do not offer that. I really wonder why. Have a look how nice it can be.

Lubuntu is the operating system I installed but I also installed Xfce. I hardly even go into Lubuntu unless something doesn't work quite right in Xfce which doesn't happen that often. Before anyone says anything, I did try Xubuntu that comes with Xfce. A lot of software I wanted need some dependencies that comes with Lubuntu plus some hardware wouldn't work correctly. Here is a screenshot.

Microsoft's big decision: Who gets a free upgrade to Win10-workspace-1_003.png

groze · 07 Jan 2015

Mystere said:

MS isn't going to give a free final copy of windows to everyone that downloads the beta. They've never done that.

Microsoft did give free copies to testers in the past. If I recall, they also gave free upgrades to 8.1 and I think a discount to windows 7 user who upgraded to 8.1 the only issue was the time to get that was limited, which ticks me off a little because I got the windows 7 computer afterwards. That ok because I really like Windows 7.